The Story Worth Telling
by AmberKendsLacy
Summary: There's a story I've been asked to tell her in the hospital, the story of a girl, a man and his blue box. From beginning to end I'll tell her the life of Lorraine Sanford, then maybe a new story can go on from there. But for now, with each page I read her, danger looms closer and closer for me, and I worry the last page might mean the end. Not a Doctor/Oc.
1. Chapter 1

She was sitting on the other side of the room when I went to visit her, her wheelchair old and inefficient, just like the place where she is staying. I disagree completely with the place she is in, but all the same there isn't that much I can do about it, so I decide to take it like a spoon of salt, bitter but at the same time, and with a cup of water later, tolerable. She is unattended, again I hate seeing that, but all the same I'd rather have her alone to talk to than have someone looking over her shoulder. Her eyes are planted to the window in front of her, looking out to the horridly boring world outside that is made of the same shades of grey, over and over again. I sit down next to her in the creaky chair that is offered, and it takes her much longer than it really should for her to notice me completely. But when she does, she smiles, and while I feel so much better in that action, I can tell that it's fake, a smile you give to strangers at the bank.

"Hello young man, do you know what the time is?" I look at my watch and politely give her the time, and she nods in thanks, her heavy head not turning back to the window just yet, as she apparently gets that I'm here for a reason, and have something to tell her, or something to do that has connections with her. I look down at the book in my hands, the cover old and picked apart in paces, but all the same it is thick with yellow shaded paper, some pages poking out in awkward places. One wouldn't know that it was loved if it weren't for the pages and pages filled with words, words that were more powerful than anyone would have ever realized.

"Do you need anything?" That was so much like her, asking a question that others would usually ask in annoyance, but genuine interest and care. I smile back at her and nod, words stuck in my throat and lodged deep into my system as was left to collect them form the pit of my stomach, where they had fallen, and speak my reply. There's no one else in the room, and I had locked the door behind me in order to make sure there wasn't any interruptions any more, as I wanted to do this now, or I might never try to do this ever again. I held the book in tighter hands, feeling some of the ancient wayward pages cut into my calloused hands as I spoke, trying my best not to sound to emotional.

"I have a story to tell you, it's a long one so you might want to remember it as I need to come back every so often to continue it, it's that lengthy." She nodded, looking a bit more excited than she should have in all honesty, but all the same it took weight and fear off of my shoulders to see her so happy, the years seemingly peeling off of her at the smile, the genuine smile, on her face. I released my tight grip on the book, and opened the front cover, seeing the familiar pen writing on the very first page was almost like relieving the world I use to have, the memories and the times that were so far away right now.

"Is it a good story?" I wanted to say that yes, it was a good story, that there was nothing but good times in between these pages, but I'm not a liar, my mother didn't raise me that way. And I couldn't lie to this woman sitting next to me, who looked so alone and tired of the world she lived in, day after day, at least the days she could apparently remember. So I told the truth, but her face didn't fall, if anything, I think she was listening only more intensely, more interested in what this story contained. Perhaps there had been stories told to her here before, and all of them were too filled with good times for her liking, which would explain why she was only more interested in what was in the book I was holding.

"It is sometimes, other times its not, but I guarantee you that it is genuine, and it is real. It's a story about a man, a girl, and a strange blue box. And this is how it starts…"

* * *

_Her name is Lorraine Sanford, and she's only 8 at this time. She's small for her age, so people mistake her for being much younger, something she dislikes immensely and at times would scrunch up her face in a funny way and walk off at the thought of being called a baby. However, whenever her parents called her a baby, she seemed to let it slide much easier than usual, possibly because they give her candy at the times when they call her that. Her hair was blonde, but looked as though it was going to turn brown someday; already it was a bit darker than it was only a year ago. Her eyes also held an ideal to that fact as they were a dark green._

_She could never really run that fast, so she wasn't a very sporty child, unlike her friends and neighbors who would play soccer every day in the park near her house. She could always hear their happy laughter as they ran all over the place, just basically having a much better time than she ever seemed to. See, Lorraine was a very sickly child at best when she was this young, so her parents never really let her out to play. So she would be left to look out the window and wave to her friends from school whenever they saw her looking down to them. _

_Lorraine's parents weren't mean, weren't abusive, they never even yelled at her really, they were nice and caring. They hated keeping her cooped up in the house, away from her friends and away from the sunlight basically, sometimes she would hear her mother cry to her father, saying that she didn't want to do this, that she felt horrid inside. But Lorraine didn't understand, so she would cry to, and say that she was sorry that she got so sick at times, and would make her mother feel horrid, or even a little bad. They would cry to each other, and hold each other tight at the nights that she would feel her worst, so she was closer to her parents than most of the kids she knew. _

_It was a good life she had had for those first eight years, for as much as she could remember it was certainly the best of her memories that she had in her life all at one time. Her father wasn't a drinker, he didn't abandon them, didn't leave her mother's side or love for one second, he was a good man and great father. Her mother was just as much of a good woman as well, never letting her daughter or husband go through hardships alone, always being there to love her family and be there for them when they needed a shoulder to cry on. She was a strong person, someone Lorraine always wanted, and dreamed of being when she was older._

_But that all changed on that day, the day the metal men attacked their home._

* * *

**1962**

_On that day she was feeling exceptionally healthy and good, so her parents wanted to have a nice dinner to celebrate that fact. She was upstairs in the bathroom, washing her hands in preparation for roast that she wanted to help her mother make. Her father had just come home from work, so she abandoned the bathroom and ran down the stairs to jump into his open arms, just as she did every other day when he came home. They all laughed, having a good time as dinner was still cooking in the oven nearby. Her father carried her into the dining room, asking her to help him set the table while her mother finished off the food._

_It was while they were both setting up the table and talking about their day, Lorraine being the chatterbox, so she had a lot to say, that a crash came from the hallway not that far away from them. Her father wasted no time, telling his daughter to hide under the table while he went to check out what was going on. Sure, they lived in a decent enough Neighborhood, but that didn't mean that things couldn't happen. Lorraine immediately did as her father said and hid under the pale white sheet, sneaking a peek through the slight gap between the long table cloth and the floor as she watched and waited for her father to return. _

_Instead what she heard was a horrible scream, echoing through her ears and stapling into her mind forever, as she knew her father's voice when she heard it, and that was his scream. Thinking that it must have been a joke of some kind or something, Lorraine crawled out from under the table cloth and looked around the corner to where she would have full view of the hallway. What she saw however, was the crumpled form of her father, and her mother running in the hallway to see the same sight, and screamed at the figure standing in the doorway. It was a man, made of metal with handles on his head, a strange gun in his hands as he wasted no time and tried to shoot at her mother as well._

_The strange metal man missed at first, hitting the wall right next to her mother's head, and she screamed, backing away, and finally catching sight of her daughter, looking up at her in both fear and confusion. For the few seconds that her mother got left to have in this life before the strange metal man didn't miss the second time and shot her down for good, she screamed at her daughter. The words she said, just like her father's last and final scream, being imprinted in her brain forever as not a second later, her mother crumpled to the ground and moved no more, right at her daughter's feet. _

"_Run Lorraine baby, run!"_

_Tears pricked at her eyes, her face blank as she tried to figure out what had just happened, her world being flipped upside down right then and there. So it wasn't until she looked back up at the metal man, which had finally noticed her and was turning to shoot her as well, that her mother's words finally made sense, so she turned form the horrific sight of her parent's unmoving bodies on the floor and ran to the back door, slamming it open and running faster than she ever had in her life. As soon as she ran out into the fading sunlight, she saw more metal men everywhere, prowling the streets, coming out of the sewer holes in the roads. It was a terrifying sight, so she didn't stop running, no matter how many times she fell over in the street, she never stopped, hearing screaming and crying behind her as she went on and on, never looking back in fear of what she would see. _

* * *

"That sounds like a terrible beginning," She shook her head sadly, each movement feeling like an ancient effort on her part, her smile having disappeared into a sad, heavy frown that was etched deeply into her face. I hated seeing her frown, but at the same time this was in the story, and I had promised to tell the whole truth, and everything that was in there exactly like it was written, so I had to swallow that feeling of guilt ad carry on, though my voice did have that partial tone of apology mixed in as I replied to her comment, my hands not closing the book just yet, despite how much I really wanted that to happen, there was still many, many pages in here before it would lead to better times again, but I didn't want to tell her that just yet.

"I know, but that's how it happened…Do you want me to continue, because we can stop now if you want?"Nothing was said after that, but she shook her head slowly, looking back from the window where she had been staring out of while making her comment, looking back to me as she waited for me to continue the story, so I picked right back up. Sure it was true that there wasn't that much happier times ahead in this story, but at least there was a small spark of hope on the next page, and that was good enough from me. And by the look on her face I went on, it was obvious that it made her feel much better to, which did make it easier to read on as the pages continued.

* * *

_At some point she had to stop running, as she fell down again, this time right on her face. She didn't get back up, instead staying lying in the dirt, crying over the life and the world she had lost, the world she wanted to go back to so bad. She wanted to run home again and find her parents still there, still alive and having dinner, waiting for her and happy to see her. But she wasn't that naive, wasn't that young or innocent, not anymore. So she stayed there for what felt like forever, ignored by the world in those moments as she cried and cried with no care of how loud she was being. _

_However, because she was being so loud in her misery, that eventually she caught the attention of some people that were just wondering past. Immediately they stopped, Lorraine having gone silent in her tears as soon as she heard their footsteps approaching her. Thinking that it was the metal men coming back to get her to, she jumped to her feet and backed away in fear, her back accidentally roughly hitting the brick wall, causing her to fall back so she was on her backside, sobbing pitifully as she looked up at the figures in front of her, expecting them to be the nightmarish metal men._

_But that was not the case; in fact, standing in front of her was the strangest people she had seen, apart from the scary metal men of course. These people however, were not scary to her, in fact if anything she felt somehow safe with them standing in front of her than she had all day. One of them was Scottish, as she remembered learning in her class a few weeks ago, as he was wearing a strange skirt and spoke in a way that she hadn't really heard before, apart from on the radio. He was looking to the man next to him at times, who seemed to reminded her of the nice records that her mother liked to listen to, as his hair did look like the ones on the cardboard covers. _

"_Are ya all right lass?" The Scotsman muttered to her, before he turned back to look at his apparent friend, who was moving closer to her than he was, scaring the poor girl as she tried to back away, still sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking with each intake of breath. The strange man with the haircut was kneeling to her level, holding out a rag that was in his black coat pocket to her to wipe her tears with. She was hesitant however, curling in on herself as she tried her best to stay away from the man, who was speaking softly to her, trying to calm her enough to trust him and take the offered rag._

"_It's alright, we're not going to hurt you, and we want to help." There was a moment in which nothing happened, Lorraine adding things up in her head, weighing risks and such, before she eventually relented and held her hand out, taking the rag and wiping her eyes. The man smiled, and moved a little closer, sitting next to her by the wall cross legged, and gestured for his friend to sit on her other side. The Scotsman looked to his friend for a moment before doing as he said and stayed quiet while he talked to her, his voice calm and soothing in the already horrid situation she was in, making her feel at least a little better._

"_Now, I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend Jamie, what's your name?" Lorraine looked over at the Scotsman as he was introduced to her, and he gave her a small smile in an attempt to make her feel better. She sniffed a few times but managed a crooked smile back before looking back to the Doctor, wondering on whether or not she should tell him that Doctor, at least as her grandmother use to say, was not a real name. But she figured that was a little rude, especially since he was nice enough to give her the rag to wipe her face and sit next to her. She replied to the question after a time, her voice small and cracked thanks to her sobbing._

"_L-Lorraine," She sniffed, wiping her eyes again with the already soaked through rag. Lorraine did try to offer it back to the strange Doctor man, but he shook his head and closed her open hand with the hanky inside it, obviously telling her to keep the hanky as he gently patted her hand. After drawing her hand back in to hug herself, the Doctor decided to ask her another question, but was interrupted by Jamie suddenly asking a question out of nowhere, breaking the period of silence he had made and disrupting Lorraine's own peace of mind as well, as she started sobbing heavier again. After seeing her reaction to the question, the Doctor man gave his friend a look that obviously stated how he shouldn't have done that before having to look back at her as she talked again._

"_Where are ye parents lass?" _

"_They- … There were strange metal men in our house, and they made father scream and fall over. He wouldn't get up and Mother told me to run before she fell down to. I ran away like she said to, but I don't know where to go now…" She started sobbing so much that it cutted off her words and she was left to draw her knees up to her chest, and bury her head away from them both, crying all over again, knowing full well that her parents had not just 'fallen over,' but where gone for good and never coming back. The doctor slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a genuine hug, despite how much it must have looked awkward to anyone else. But she didn't care all that much, just being happy that someone was comforting her, so she let her tears drench his blue checkered shirt as much as they had the soaked through hanky in her tight grip._

"_There, there, everything's going to be alright," they were lies, he knew, even she knew that, but all the same there wasn't much else he could say that he knew of to make her feel better. Jamie did try asking the Doctor on what they should do next, as it was obvious that they couldn't leave her on her own, but all the same where they were heading, was no safe place for a girl like her, especially since she had been through too much today. However the strange man seemed a bit too preoccupied with the bawling child in his arms, instead trying to give her comfort while rocking her back and forth, muttering words of comfort that he knew he couldn't do, sometimes looking up to his companion while he tried to think of a better answer to give the Scotsman, other than the one he gave of course._

"_We have no choice Jamie, the city is crawling with them and we can't leave her on her own. UNIT can keep her safe and away from them until this is all over, I hope." He tried whispering so she wouldn't hear, but all the same she was sobbing rather loudly so it wasn't as if she could hear him if she tried or wanted to. Jamie nodded in understanding and gently rubbed Lorraine's back in an attempt to comfort her in his own way, feeling her back shake with each cry she managed to let out of herself. They didn't get to have this moment for long however, as an explosion went off not that far away from their position. Lorraine even lifted her head to look in the direction of the explosion, seeing nothing but a column of dark smoke starting to rise into the air. _

"_We have to go, now," The strange Doctor man said quickly, picking up Lorraine bridal style without another word, and running off in the other direction of the smoke, Jamie following after him as they ran. Lorraine said nothing, instead holding on tight to the materials on the man's coat and shirt, her head pressed tightly against his chest, where she heard the strangest thing. Perhaps it was her just being upset and hearing things, but the little girl swore she could hear two quick heart beats inside the Doctor's chest. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she said nothing of it, instead focusing on burying her head as much as she could in his shirt in order to avoid seeing anymore metal men that might be around them._

_Her tears had not dried fully, a few or more managing to squeeze their way out of her eyes as they ran on and on through the empty streets of London, heading somewhere that hopefully would mean safety for them all. She tried to focus on the heavy breathing and weird heartbeats of the man that was carrying, but found it hard what with the sudden appearance of army cars everywhere and soldiers talking to him, trying to convince him to give her over to them to take care of. But she was desperate to stay with him, since she knew him and the Scotsman more than these strangers, and wanted to stay by him, as he meant safety to her right now, more than anything. _

_Whenever foreign hands tried to grab at her and pull her away from him, her grip would tighten as she cried out to be left alone and to stop trying to take her away. The Doctor didn't seem all that bothered in carrying her around, but there was a problem when she was adamant in not letting go of his shirt and coat, and he knew he was going to go somewhere that was definitely not meant for a child like her, so he had to try and calmly convince her to not only let go, but calm down. There was also a problem that she did start kicking at the hands that tried to take her away, so they backed off eventually and she was left to listen to the Doctor's words. _

"_Lorraine, everything's going to be okay, I have to go but I'll be right back. For now you have to stay here with them, and be a good girl okay?" Eventually Lorraine stopped freaking out and slowly nodded, eventually letting the soldier that she had accidentally almost kicked in the face take her from the Doctor, and continued to cry as she saw him and Jamie walk away. The soldier quietly sat her in the back of an ambulance, giving her a blanket and a mug of some kind of warm milk drink, and walked off, telling her to stay there while he went to get someone else. At first Lorraine sat there and waited like she was asked, remembering that the Doctor had asked her to be a good girl, so she did as she was told, and even tried to stop crying, despite the fact that it was hard to stop, the tear tracks continuing down her face despite her best attempts._

_The drink tasted vaguely of chocolate, but then again only vaguely so Lorraine politely placed it to the side of her, looking out around her as she held the blanket tighter to herself. No one came back to check on her for a long time, so eventually she guessed that she was supposed to go and find someone herself to talk to, or at least know where the Doctor and Jamie went. As she walked through the empty alley ways, she noticed that the army cars she walked past that were once filled with soldiers was empty. She walked a little bit further, but immediately stopped when she saw what was up ahead._

_It was the metal men again, and she turned and ran in the other direction, thinking for a moment on whether or not she should hide in the ambulance again, but eventually she decided against it as she wanted to hide right then and there, the sounds of marching behind her telling her how close they were getting. Eventually she went and hid underneath one of the many army cars and prayed that she wasn't going to be found by the horrid metal men where she was now, shaking and sobbing quietly to herself as she waited for whatever was going to happen. There was shouting not that far away, but that didn't last long in her attentions as she saw metal feet stop exactly where she was hiding…_

* * *

"And, what happened next?" She asked me, attempting to peer at the page in question, but I beat her to it by closing the book altogether, my finger placed in the pages to remember where it was I had left off. I gave her a short smile and stood from my seat, giving her a bow and speaking as quickly as I could, knowing that at some point the hospital was going to notice the locked door and not allow me to see her again and continue this story. I was backing away with every step, the book held behind my back as I stepped widely back with every word I spoke, desperate to quickly leave before my time ran out for real.

"Well, that will have to wait until tomorrow okay? See, the time is running out and I have to go, but like I said, I'll be back tomorrow so, remember everything that's happened already okay?" I smiled cheeringly at her and left, making sure to unlock the door as I went, trying to keep the 'I'm okay' façade until I exited the building altogether, taking a deep sigh as I looked to my watch again, (well a few more times than usual,) and then walked on over to my parked car, already waiting impatiently for tomorrow when I'd get to see her again.

* * *

**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.**

**By the way, the time in this story isn't really going to measure up canonically, so really in that aspect I'm making up that this took place in 1962, and almost every other time piece that isn't directly specified in the show. **


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't really that long until I visited her again the next day, a leather bookmark placed carefully in the pages of where we were up to in the story. I walked purposefully up to the hospital, making sure to get their as quick as I could, the hospital takes amusement in cancelling such things whenever they can, just to make others miserable, at least the few that would give a damn and come to visit anyone in this practically cut off from anything and everything else. The nurses gave me odd looks as I hurried along to the room I knew they hadn't moved her from all that much, this place being so uncaring in its patrons.

She was even still sitting in her wheelchair when I arrived into the room, but she did look a little more animated than last time, her eyes inspecting the room around her, frowning at how unkempt it really was, as if she had only noticed such a thing, even for as long as she had been here. I walked attentively into the room, each step feeling very heavy on my mind as it was on the wooden floorboards underneath my shoes. Very soon, in fact sooner than I expected she looked in my direction, noticing me much faster than she ever had yesterday, and on her own altogether. She smiled and got more relaxed in her wheelchair, but at the same time she was very excited, patting at the seat where I had been sitting the day before, her voice even seemed a little more upbeat.

"Ah, there you are again young man, I've been waiting. Come sit here now dear, I want to hear more of this story, absolutely fascinating," She smiled cheerfully as I sat down and opened the book once more, looking over for where my place was before I got right back to it, the leather book mark being placed on the arm rest as our time again was spent in continuing the story, watching as once again she watched me as the words seemed to just fly off the paper and create the scene for us both, our imaginations running wild for the both of us on what these 'metal men' could possibly be, and how Lorraine was going to get out alive.

* * *

_She didn't dare breath or sob too loudly, watching the metal feet that were standing not that far away from her. Lorraine closed her eyes after a time, in her eight year old mind, to accept what was inevitably going to happen any moment, trying to tell herself that it was okay, that soon she would be with her parents once more. But all she felt was stone cold fear instead of hope, sadness instead of happiness, so she tried to push that thought away, her hands clinging desperately to the soggy hanky the Doctor man had given her as the metal feet where soon joined into view by metal hands clutching onto the bottom of the army car._

_However, a sudden noise broke through the terrifying sounds of her quick heartbeat, a piercing, machine sound that made her grab her ears in pain. Apparently it hurt the metal man as well, as it let go of the army car and took a few steps back, until falling down altogether, a large crashing sound and the sight of the feet falling over being the sign of that for her. The noise continued on despite that, and a few more crashes that Lorraine took as a sign that other metal men were also falling down. Eventually though, that and the noise stopped, so Lorraine was left in complete silence once more, and she wondered on whether or not she could come out yet. _

_There were more footsteps, but she could tell that this wasn't the metal men anymore, as shouting came with it, shouting of voices that she sort of recognized as the soldiers that were once here before, and a few new ones that she didn't remember before now. They were arguing and shouting to each other, some of them that she remembered sounding guilty and defensive, while the others that she didn't were the ones being completely furious and shouting as they navigated themselves around the dead metal men, the argument continuing even after they had walked past the army car she had been hiding under. The feet that passed by the car were definitely ones that were belonging to the soldiers, and thankfully not metal men. _

_Lorraine still stayed under the car however, as she was thinking over whether or not she should go out from under the car and see if the Doctor and Jamie was with them, as she wanted to see them again. After a while however, she was certain that maybe she should stay exactly where she was, as they were very scary with their yelling and arguing. She peeked a look form under the car, seeing the military men all around the metal men, yelling and pointing as they argued over something that it took a little while longer than usual for her to figure out what they were yelling about, and even when she did, it only made her want to hide under the car, all the more. _

"_Well where is she then? You were left to watch her Private Benson, and all of a sudden there's an attack and you leave her on her own?"_

"_But sir, I asked for a medical expert to come and see her for her knees and stuff, but they ran off as soon as the Cybermen started appearing, and when I came back here, she was gone." Lorraine looked back down as her knees, seeing that actually her knees were pretty bad, probably thanks to the falls she had done while she was running off into the blue and to nowhere. They actually hurt a lot more than she had expected, as the pain found its way into her attention as soon as she had looked to the injuries herself. Really there was a lot going on today, so it wasn't unexpected that she wouldn't notice such a thing. She made a small whimper of pain as she looked back to the feet of the soldiers, wanting something to draw her attention to, other than the pain in her knees._

"_She was still in your care Benton, your responsibility. Now we have to go and look for her-" The main soldier man was cut off by something else, the rest of the soldiers even turning to see it. She couldn't really see what it was; the soldiers were blocking the way, hiding whatever was coming from sight. At first she had been terrified that it was actually another group of metal men, or what the soldiers apparently called 'Cybermen', coming to attack them again, and there would be no more hiding for her. However, that thought was brushed away when she heard the familiar voice of the Doctor as he yelled over the din the soldiers had created. _

"_Where is Lorraine? I left you all to look after her!" The little girl quickly dragged herself from under the car and ran for the voice, practically barreling into him with as much force as she could muster, surprising the entire military men as they watched her jump on him, holding onto him as tightly as she could, ignoring everyone else around her for the most part, though she did hear a sigh of relief coming from the soldiers, especially Private Benton, who looked more than relieved for the most part that he was no longer in trouble. The Doctor just gave a soft laugh, as that seemed all he could manage, what with his middle being squeezed by a small eight year old girl, and patted her head gently. _

"_Who is this Doctor?" two strange women looked over the smaller man's shoulder at the child in his arms, smiling to each other at how close she seemed to want to be close to the Doctor as possible, muttering things into his black drappy coat about something that sounded like 'I was scared' and 'I thought you weren't coming back.' The Doctor man just continued to pat her head and mutter things that sounded like soothing words and promises that they all knew he was unlikely to keep, except of course the promise that 'everything was going to be okay.' As it became obvious that he was unlikely to leave her on her own after that, even if she was with the soldiers again, (actually, especially if they were left with the soldiers again.)_

"_Ah yes, Lorraine, Lorraine could you let go please… I want to introduce you to Zoe and Isabella," The little girl eventually managed to release her arms from his middle and looked up to the two women he had been speaking with, watching them as they looked back down on her and awing at her. Already she didn't feel all that okay looking back up at them, as they seemed a little too happy, what with the situation that was really going on at the time. She didn't smile back at them; instead she just looked at them, her eyes still leaking over with tears at times that they noticed immediately, well… after a time at least, then they looked to the Doctor with questions in their eyes, but the frown on his face told them not to ask. So they wisely backed off of that subject, instead giving the girl another small smile as the Doctor lead her over to the main military man that had been yelling before. _

"_And this is the Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart, but you can just call him Brigadier," The man looked back down at her, holding his hand out for her to shake, which she eventually did, noting to herself that he had a tough grip. After that apparently it seemed as though the Cyberman menace was over, and that everything was safe once , despite the cheering of the soldiers and overall celebrations, Lorraine didn't feel any better. In fact, she felt empty and hollow inside, her tears were over, since it seemed impossible for her to keep crying all day long, but unlike what she usually heard, the crying didn't make her feel better again, in fact she was only feeling worse and emptier now that she got the chance to look back and realize how small and unimportant she felt to everyone around her._

_That feeling was very short lasted when the Doctor slapped his hand on her shoulder and led her with him towards an army car, his other companions following after him as they all climbed in, Lorraine having to sit on his knee as there wasn't any seats left. The Brigadier tried to get the Doctor to leave her behind with the soldiers, but that offer was again returned with a glare that stated the man's stance on leaving her on her own with those soldiers. As the car took off down the road, Lorraine felt him hold her closer so she didn't fall, so she let her head lie on his shoulder and looked about as the London streets quickly turned into country roads and animal farms._

"_Almost there Brigadier," He muttered through Lorraine's flying hair to the military man, who just nodded and drove on. There wasn't that much talk between everybody during the drive, Jamie often asking the Doctor or Zoe questions on some subjects before eventually falling silent once more. Lorraine however, was making an almost silent conversation with the double hearted man by pointing out the animals that they drove past, trying her best to give a genuine smile, but all the same she still felt empty and the smile felt fake, plastered on by shoddy workmanship. So she stopped as soon as she started, and instead just continued to point out the pale horses and other farm animals out to the Doctor, who just hummed in interest, nodded and pointed things out to her as well. _

_They had a strange conversation, but all the same she sort of enjoyed it, with what little she had left in her to feel joy anymore. But even then, it felt untrue, a lie made on her part to make the Doctor feel better and not worry as much about her, but it was because of that that she said nothing of it, and kept the lie going. At times when she was sure that the man wasn't looking at her, her blank expression would turn into a deep frown, as if she was confused by her feelings, as if she was wondering on why she wasn't crying anymore, why she wasn't screaming in sadness anymore. Then the frown would grow deeper as the thought that she mustn't have cared as much for her parents as she thought. _

_It was during her one last frown that the car stopped at a certain, cow filled field. Jamie and Zoe were the first to jump out of the car, and walked quickly to the field, and making sure the whole time to watch their step wherever they went. The Doctor first helped her down from the car before getting out himself, looking back to the Brigadier before shaking his hand, and saying goodbyes. Lorraine felt confused on why he was saying goodbye to both the man and Isabelle, a sinking feeling beginning to appear in her already hollow heart as he shook the military man's hand, then whispered something into his ear, which caused him to look at her for a few seconds before walking off after his companions, leaving her with the Isabelle girl and Brigadier. _

"_Doctor?" Where was he going? Why was he leaving her behind? Wasn't she going to come with him? Her call out to him must have been to small as he didn't look back, instead continuing to walk on to where Zoe and Jamie were, for some reason they were holding their hands up and around, as if they were looking for something that was invisible. Deciding that he must not have heard her, Lorraine ran after him, despite the voice of the Brigadier and Isabelle trying to stop her and telling her to come right back. She ran a little ways, her knees still hurting quite a bit, and her lack of athleticism certainly was never helping anything, though eventually she managed to crash into him from behind, thanks to an unruly stick on the ground. _

"_Don't go," She cried, ignoring the stinging of her knees thanks to the fall she nearly did as she continued to be upset, "I don't want to be alone again," The Doctor turned around and tried to get her to let go of him, but unlike last time she was not so willing to do as she was told anymore, especially when there was no promise of him coming back. Now, Everin was aware that she was misbehaving, and acting very rude, but all the same, even though she had only just met the Doctor, she had already felt (and been) abandoned completely today, then to meet someone who cared about her and made her feel at least the smallest bit better, but now they were going to leave her to, on the same day. So naturally she was going to be upset. _

_He tried to keep walking, even though she was literally attached to his hip, talking to her the whole time as he dragged himself along with her up the hill, looking around for the mysteriously invisible thing along with his companions. His voice was calm and attempting to relax her, but all the same she was definitely freaking out, so it really was no longer helping her for him to speaking to her this way, since it was just as ineffective as apparently spreading your hands out in an attempt to look for an invisible object. And while his words did make sense, she was only a child, so really all she understood was that he was leaving her behind, and more than likely never coming back. _

"_Look Lorraine, I need you to be a big girl and go with the Brigadier, so he can take you to a safe place. There are things we both need to take care of for now, but we have to do them apart and on our own," He wiggled out of her grasp at last, then crouched back down to her level, showing the hanky she had placed into her pocket a little while back, before tying a knot in one of the corners and handing it back to her. She took it attentively, and sniffed, a few tears again escaping down her face and landing on the soft material of the handkerchief. He gave her another warm smile, before pointing directly to the knot he had made in the corner of the hanky, looking directly in the eye._

"_Now Lorraine, I need you to promise with this hanky, that you won't forget to be a good girl, do as you're told and stay out of trouble, okay?" She sniffed again but nodded finally, and gave him one last hug, which he returned, patting her gently on the back. As soon as they broke apart, the Doctor's companions called out to him, saying something about finding the TARDIS at last. He ruffled Lorraine's hair one last time and walked off, leaving her alone with the Brigadier beside her, the handkerchief still in her grip as she, the Brigadier and Isabelle watched him walk up to the other pair, and suddenly disappear from sight. Lorraine and Isabelle gaped in surprise, but the Brigadier didn't seem all that shocked, in fact if anything he just looked a tiny but miffed at the whole affair._

_Just when Lorraine was sure however, that there wasn't anything else to see, suddenly, where there was just an empty space before, appeared a blue police box. Lorraine had seen these before of course, whenever she walked down the street with her mother, but all the same it was still surprising to just see them show up out of nowhere in the middle of a field. But, as if the box had become aware of its oddity, it started to vanish altogether again. Lorraine put two and two together at this point, and tried to run after it, but the Brigadier's hand on her shoulder stopped her right in her tracks, as she looked back at the knot in her hanky, remembering the promise she had made to be a good girl, she let the military man lead her back to his car, buckling her in the back and driving her off without a second thought, leaving the small girl to look back at the field they were driving away from, until it disappeared behind the trees and hills altogether. _

* * *

"Well, that seemed like a sad ending to a good story, even if it was a little odd," She pointed out to me as she sat back in her wheelchair, looking very unamused as I took the leather bookmark and placed it where the page had ended. I nodded in agreement and sat back for a moment, checking my watch and sighing, there was still five minutes left on the clock, long enough to feel awkward, but not long enough to start the next chapter of the story. She looks back out the window and sighs, the bleak world not having changed one bit since the story started, before she looked back to me, her question left hanging over our heads for a while as I was not fully paying attention, my fingers instead trailing across the cracks in the old book's cover.

"Is that all, or is there more of a story to tell?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes definitely, and I'll be here tomorrow again to tell you what happened next," I smiled to her and she smiles back, happy again the thought of not only continuing the story, but also the fact that she would have company again the next day. I stayed in my seat for a little while longer before finally getting up, bowing again to the woman before making my leave as I did usually every day. I walked quickly through the uninteresting hallways of the hospital, ignoring the looks I received from some of the staff, as they possibly didn't expect me to come visiting as often as I did. But all the same that meant nothing to me, as I walked down one last hallway and made it back to my old, beat-up car that was always waiting for me at the end of the visit.

However, I noticed as soon as I reached the car, there was a note in the windshield wiper. Confused as to why I would get a ticket, or anything of the like. I pulled it out and looked it over, reading the printed words with a sense of anxiety and nervousness, as if there was the sudden feeling not only someone being behind me, but far away as well, watching my every move. The note was written in pen, in fact it was made by cut and pasted newspaper words, like kidnappers would a ransom note they would ones they sent to the police. I tried to scoff it off, to scrunch it all up and throw it behind my shoulder, but all the same I knew, and could feel those eyes watching me no matter what I did, all the way home.

**GO NO FURTHER, RETRACT. RETRACT NOW.**

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**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

That note didn't do it's apparent job, as instead of being scared off, I'm more determines than ever to do this, now that I know there are people out there who are paying attention to this, and see it as a threat. I walk purposefully through the Hospital hallways again, looking suspiciously to each and every staff member that crosses my path, trying to see if I can elicit any signs of guilt or worry in my presence, but all I've gotten so far are glares and threats of fights that I just walk past, so nothing happens. Finally I reach the right door, and opened it quietly, locking it behind me as I have done every other time before this.

This time when I saw her, she wasn't just sitting on one corner of her room in her wheelchair, but actually slowly wheeling herself around to look at the other windows altogether, peering outside like an expectant child, as if she were waiting and hoping that out the other window would be a different world other than the grey disappointing one, and every time she was let down. That small fall in her expression got me easy enough, so that I didn't notice when she actually saw me, until her eyes brightened all over again, and she gestured for me to sit down, before wheeling over to her old place herself.

"Well, go on, go on, don't waste your time looking at a silly old duff like me; I want to hear more of your story," I nodded again and opened the old pages, watching them flip slowly to the right page before clearing my throat and starting to read. I wondered, for the few seconds I had while the pages were busy flipping so slowly to the right page, whether or not she was going to like anything that would happen next. If she might ask me to stop or even ask if I was telling the truth, but all the same it seemed as though she had readily accepted what had happened so far in the story, so I continued.

* * *

**1970**

_Lorraine Sanford was 16 now, her hair having gone brown as foretold, but her eyes staying just the same. Being a teenager, she was emotional and out of sorts at the best of times, (though being an orphan as well probably only made that feeling worse,) so she never really went outside at all. See, she was a ton healthier than she had been when she was younger, probably one of the good staples of growing up, or just the only good part of growing up, but all the same she kept herself caged in whenever she could. She doesn't call herself by her full name of Lorraine anymore, feeling that the name is too long, or too fancy, one of the two when she has time to think about it or someone asks (rarely). So she shortens it, like she shortens her hair, to Lorrie, and glares at anyone who happens to know her full name, but only when they say it. _

_And those people are few in short supply now a days, what with her having been thrown into one home after another, chucked away and forgotten about each and every time. Lorrie is use to it by this point though, and gains a sarcastic attitude for it, not letting anyone in and pushing everyone away, physically if she ever gets the chance. Actually, that was how she was kicked out of her last adoptive home, the very last she'd ever have, last year as she had gotten into a fight with the goody goody cheerleader that lived there. And now she was placed in another Orphan house with other 'trouble makers' or overall children that the Government just wanted to 'forget about'. _

_It's stifling in that place, the amount of hate can be seen on the walls, (thanks to her, and other children's creativity with a spray can or a pen that they would happen to have on hand at the time,) so she often goes out to walk, and get away. She has to pack a bag at times, what with the other kids having greedy hands along with their greedy thoughts, which was probably a good explanation for why there was a large bag slung over her shoulder, bustling at times from the seams (she didn't trust no one there, not even herself.) It was on one of those particular days of her shuffling her feet and kicking stones in the sidewalk, that something strange happened. _

_In the place that she had been travelling through for the past few days, had been taken for a time by a travelling circus. She had found some amusement in waking past the acts, seeing the lions and other strange animals she hadn't seen before in cages, always making sure to walk a little slower whenever she could, at least before she was chased off by the owners of the circus as they knew from previous that she had never bought a ticket for their act, and never would as there was never a cent in her pockets. At times she would try to ask if she could join them in their travels, as she really had no ties where she was, and wanted to go see new places, new times and people, anything really, as long as it wasn't where she was now._

_Lorrie stopped in her slow walking, and pulled something out form her ratty jacket pocket, the material of this object, while faded, was still in better shape than any of the clothes she was wearing (especially her jeans, which were full of holes thanks to her much 'weirder' stage when she was fourteen.) It was the handkerchief that the Doctor man had given her all those years ago, when she was still young and naive enough to make promises she didn't know she could never truly keep. She still kept hold of the hanky though, the knot still tied firmly in that one corner so she would always remember the promise she made, and maybe someday try to keep it. _

_But right now it was like she couldn't do anything right, that she was always doing the wrong thing, and at times, whether she meant to or not, she would just let go and do the wrong thing anyway, which at times only made her feel worse, as she knew that she was letting the Doctor down , and proving everyone that was against her, absolutely right. She placed the handkerchief back in her inside pocket, just above her heart. She patted her heart and was about to move on, when she saw the strangest sight out of the corner of her eye, and had to look back to the circus grounds to see if she was sure she had seen what she had seen. _

_And she was right, there was a caravan that she was absolutely sure wasn't there only a second ago. Her mind travelled back to her eight year old memory, the thought of the blue police box suddenly appearing, then going away again, taking the Doctor with it. She had tried to tell others about the experience, but no one ever believed her, even children her age, who would ridicule her and bully her for telling the story, telling her that's he was stupid if they thought that they were going to believe anything she said, that she was liar to put it finely. But she never let it get to her, she knew what happened that day, and it wasn't no car accident that took her parents, like the councilors tried to make her think, it was those metal men and she knew it for a fact, and now, she might just get the chance to prove it._

_Of course there was a chance that really the caravan had been there the whole time and she was just making a fool of herself, but somehow, in her head, she knew this was real and she had too check it out. Sneaking past the circus people was easier than she ever expected, but then again she hadn't really tried all that hard to do this before, she was never this determined before to find something out for sure. Her bag bustled behind her as it usually did when she ran, so she made sure to only move around when she was absolutely sure that there was no one there._

_She walked carefully up to the caravan's back door, looking about her a few more times just to make sure that there really wasn't anyone watching her, as she could somehow feel eyes watching her like a hawk would its prey. It made her shiver, made her think more than twice on whether or not she should actually be doing this, and if it wasn't too late for her to turn back, go back to the orphan home and try her best to keep her promise, to be a better person as that was what the Doctor had always wanted. For some reason she already felt as though she was breaking the promise all over again, by just standing here and looking to the back door of the caravan that she still was looking to with suspicion and curiosity. _

_However, it seemed as though that choice was not going to be made by her anymore, that her time had run out for choices, and all was left was for her to go with the flow. She knew this, as the caravan's back door suddenly swung open, and Lorrie suddenly felt a need to go inside, a need that somehow now meant more than just her curiosity or suspicion, there was something else dragging her in, like a spider web wrapped around an unsuspecting fly. There was a sound that vibrated through her ears, a sort of humming sound that was so alien to her, but relaxed her for some reason, as if she had been expecting it, but what she was never expecting, was what she saw next._

…

* * *

"Are you alright dear?" I had paused in my reading, taking a deep sigh as I looked to her, trying my best to keep a straight face and not show how much what was coming next, bothered me to no end, and would possibly always bother me like it did now. I had read this part so many times myself, but it never failed to get me, never failed to trouble me as soon as I closed the book once more, or even laid down to sleep. Her expression told me everything, which was that of course she hadn't heard this part of the story yet, that she was so new to all of this, but all the same I wondered if I should go any further, if it were possible to stop now.

Except of course she saw that, and didn't say anything, but said nothing, not even a sound of disappointment or disagreement, instead just placing one of her hands on mine, and smiling thinly to me. I took a deep sigh after that, and looked back down at the weary pages of the book, the writing spelling out to me the very moments in this story that I hated reading at best, but all the same I cleared my throat once more, feeling a little less uncomfortable about the whole situation at least, and got right back to speaking the story aloud, though I couldn't help if one or two unintentional creases of my brow found themselves into my expressions as I read on.

* * *

_What she knew for certain though, was that this was definitely not a caravan, nor what the inside of a caravan would ever look like. It was so strange, so much bigger on the inside than the out, and the walls were covered in white circles with grey outsides, the circles themselves glowing almost naturally, despite how mechanical it all really was, and looked. There was nothing else in the room, apart from one large set piece right in the centre of the room, which caught her eye right away, and made her turn her head to inspect it with her eyes. _

_But the whole time that she stood in peculiar bigger than it should really be room, she had not moved one step as soon as she had seen the real insides of the caravan, her eyes widened in a mix of fear, fascination and confusion. So she was standing on the other side of the room, and staring at this strange table like piece that had six sides and very strange buttons, levers and switches all over it. After a time, her feet unintentionally moved towards the strange piece, her bag dropping to the floor behind her as she slowly walked towards it, her head again turning to look all around this strange room that was impossible to be able to fit in such a small place on the outside. Her head once again moved back to the strange six sided table thing when her hand unintentionally touched the cold metal surface, which for some reason felt alive. _

_Her hand lifted from the surface in reaction, but then lowered again, her brows furrowed together in confusion at the strange feeling she was getting that seemed to go into her hand, seeping up her fingers, through her arm and into her mind. It felt as though there was something poking around in her mind thanks to the contact with the cool metal, and despite how strange it felt, she just didn't seem to be able to lift her hand again. An unknown amount of time passed for her as she stood there, the strange humming noise going through her head, just like the feeling in her mind caused by the cold metal under her hand. But she was interrupted by this strange feeling by a cough from behind her._

_There was a man behind her, a strange man, suited to the strange room. He was dressed in all black, and while other times she might have thought that a little silly, it seemed to go well with how he just… was. He was standing straight and tall, as if he was completely immovable by anything, but all the same it felt as though there was a weight in him that kept him grounded that gave off a sense that she should fear him in some way. His face was darkened, only helped a little more with the feeling of immorality from him; the major things she saw were the grey and black of his hair and goatee, and his… eyes…._

…

_It was strange, as it seemed as though the rest of his face was gone from her mind, leaving only the eyes peeking out from the darkness of his face. And it didn't stop there, as it spread on, making everything else unimportant, just those eyes, to keep looking at them. The strangeness of the room, the caravan, fear that she had been caught snooping through the circus grounds, even the reason she had walked away from the orphan home that day. All of it was slipping out of her mind, like they were thoughts she didn't have to worry about anymore, and she felt oddly more safe in that one moment, looking at those eyes, than she ever had in years, or maybe ever._

_Lorrie felt weightless, as if everything in her life that made her sad, that hurt her so bad that she had carried with her for so long, no longer mattered to her at all. The memories of the orphan homes and adoptive parents that came and went, even the horrid memories of when she eight, seeing her mother and father dying at the hands of the metal men, they were gone from her mind, and she was an empty slate once more. She couldn't move, couldn't look away or even say anything anymore, any words that she could have made before had dropped from her mind, just like everything else. He walked forward, and even though there was still that sense of the fear she should have of him, she didn't run, her back and hands pressing up against the edge of the strange six sided table being the only reason that she didn't fall from the strange feeling in her knees._

"_You will obey me, I am your Master, and you will obey me. You will obey," The teen felt her head nod, though it wasn't by her own choice. He hadn't moved really, his eyes still staring right into her soul at least that was how it felt to her. After a time he spoke again, his voice lowered, just like his head was lowered to be the same level as her, that being because he was taller than her, something that did make sense as he was a looming figure. She listened to his voice, not that she had any choice, and had to take a few more moments to actually understand what it was he had said and manage a reply, her mouth moving all on its own. _

"_Why are you here?"_

"_I thought I saw the caravan suddenly appear from nowhere, and I went to look at it to make sure," That obviously must have sounded suspicious, as he looked as though he didn't believe it all that much. He knew well enough that she had sneaked over to the caravan; he had seen so on the scanner beforehand. And as much as he knew that in order not to blow his cover, he had to do away with her as soon as possible, he suspected that there was more of a story behind what she had said, so he kept her alive, and kept her talking. _

"_Why would you do that?"_

"_I've seen things disappear and reappear before, but it was a police box," Now that got his attention, and he smirked while mulling over what he should do next. Perhaps he should kill her; it would gain the Doctor's attention, just like he wanted. But then again, perhaps he could use her against the fellow Time Lord, just another pawn in the game they would play. The Master moved his hand back to the TCE in his endless pocket, still thinking over if killing her was a better decision, as then he wouldn't have to look after a younger version of an already dimwitted race on this small rock. Making his decision, he spoke again, letting the order sink in as he still wondered if it was a bad idea._

"_Do you know how to drive a car?"_

_Lorrie wondered, now that she got the chance to, if this was what an out of body experience was meant to feel like, since her body was moving without her choice, making her drive a stolen car with what she guessed must be a criminal in the back seat, holding what looked like (and she hoped was,) a pink ball of some kind, that for some reason glowed like crazy. Her mind felt so much smaller, as if it was hard to think over a lot of things, like when she ever tried to move by her arm herself or anything like that, she would get this sudden spike of pain through her head, so after a few attempts she eventually gave up and let her body move itself, the pain not being worth it. _

_They pulled up at a Radio telescope lab, and as soon as Lorrie climbed out of the stolen vehicle, she felt a release on her mind again and nearly fell over when she got control back of her body. She had to lean back against the car in order to not actually fall over, she took a few deep breaths, then nearly jumped when she heard a knocking on the glass she was leaning against. After she jumped away, she turned back around to see the Master, waiting for her to open the car door for him. Deciding that it was too dangerous for her to make him angry, she opened the door for him and watched as he climbed out, the strange glowing ball still in his grasp. He turned back to her, his eyes darkened once more, but for some reason she didn't feel all weak and out of body anymore._

"_You will do as your told and stay out of the way, or I will make you," Since she didn't not want to feel all caged in her own mind again, she nodded her head obediently and followed him. The Master figured that it wasn't all that necessary to hypnotize her now, as he both didn't want to waste energy on her for longer than he should, and the fact that he felt that she would be obedient from this point, the look of fear in her eyes when she first regained her mind and saw him being a good sign of that. He climbed up a main tower, Lorrie following after him quietly, trying to ignore how fearful she was of the height they were gaining as they climbed upwards and further away from the ground. Clinging to the metal bars around them as best she could, she still followed him up, and breathed a silent sigh of relief as they finally reached the top, which also housed a lab._

_The strange Master man gestured for her to stay outside as he opened the door, and stepped inside the room, placing the glowing pink ball on the table nearby. Lorrie did as she was told, but couldn't help but be curious in what he was doing, so she moved closer to the doorway and snuck a peak at what was going on, though what she saw was definitely not normal. There was a man in that lab, who seemed very shocked, but mostly annoyed that the Master was there, he was about to say something but was cut off by the strange man pulling out something, his back was to her so she really couldn't see. But what she did see was a flash of red light. The man screamed so horridly that Lorrie had to cover her ears and look away. _

_When she looked back, the man was gone. Obviously confused, Lorrie entered the room and looked about wildly for where the man must have gone, since there didn't seem to be any bodies anywhere. The Master said nothing really, instead just watching her as she moved about and looked for the man, only interfering once to stop her in her place. Lorrie looked confused on why he would do that, that was until she looked down at her feet, and saw the strangest sight of the man, shrunk down. Backing away she looked back up at the Master, who was pointing a rather strange object at her, but all the same she didn't need an eye test to figure out it was the same thing that had shrunken down and probably killed that man, and felt the air catch in her throat in both fear and confusion as he spoke._

"_I told you to stay outside, disobey me again and you will meet the same fate as that man. Now, sit down and stay put." He gestured with the strange weapon to a chair and she didn't waste a minute, sitting down as she was told. She watched as he once again picked up the pink glowing ball, and placed in the middle of two turning switches. After a time she began to ignore whatever it was he was doing, as it wasn't as if she would really ever understand it in the first place. Instead she sat quietly, looking at her scuffed shoes as she thought over the fact of how much she wished she had just minded her own business back at those circus grounds. Since now she was around someone that had a strange kind of weapon that she had never seen before, but did remind her of a certain incident when she was eight, and was completely ready to kill people and was also kind of eager to do it. _

_So now she was stuck, since trying to run off now that she had her mind and was most definitely afraid of what was going on, would result in her getting killed, right on the spot. After a time there was a buzzing sound, other than the usual buzzing sound that was caused by whatever the Master was doing, and a voice eventually following that buzz. Lorrie looked over at the small speaker that the voice was coming out of, confused for a moment on what 'Gootch' would be, until she realized the fact that that must have been the man that the Master had just killed. What a strange feeling that was, to see someone get killed before you knew their name, but then again that feeling only made her feel worse about the whole situation and guilty that that man had to die._

_The Master seemed to find it much easier to ignore it though; continuing with whatever it was he was doing and looking as though he couldn't even hear the voice in the speaker at all, only stopping when the work was done. Just as he was finished though, a man suddenly burst into the room. Lorrie got on her feet real quick, but he didn't do much else after his sudden and dramatic appearance. This did confuse Lorrie, until she noticed that he was looking at the Master, specifically, into his eyes. The teen took a step back, deciding not to no longer look at the Master herself in fear that she would be caged in her mind again, instead deciding to finally inspect the pink glowing ball that was still sitting on the lab table. _

"_What is this thing?" Her voice was lowered completely under her breath, which was an obviously meant to be a question that she hadn't meant to say aloud, but all the same it was answered. At least it was as soon as the Master was finished hypnotizing the man that had suddenly burst into the room, then walked back across the room so that he was standing on the other side of the table to her. He stood right in front of the humming and glowing pink ball that she no longer felt comfortable looking after she got her explanation. _

"_This is what will change your world forever my dear; it will destroy your governments, environments and all life on Earth. It's called, the Nestene," _

* * *

"A pink glowing ball will do all that? How strange, but still I guess that makes sense in some way. Dynamite comes in small packages," She remarked, more than likely to just herself than to me, but all the same I smiled a little in agreement as I was still looking down at the old book, my finger still touching under the word used to name the strange object. The next thing she did say, I knew it was a question for me, I mean there was no other way to hear it. I looked up at her while she looked at me in return, waiting for the answer for her strange, but oddly enough, reasonable question.

"Am I right in assuming that this pink ball- I mean a Nestene, those metal men, this evil Master fellow, and possibly the Doctor man… Are aliens?" I thought for a moment, my hand still lying on the page I was reading before. I wondered if I should tell her, even though it did seem obvious to anyone who would have read this book, no matter how in denial they might be. I eventually decided to tell her the truth, but not until I looked about the room first. See, I knew there was someone watching us, there had to be otherwise they wouldn't have known whether or not I was telling the story any other way. As soon as I was sure there were no cameras or people at the door listening, I decided to tell her anyway, damn the consequences I was going to face.

"Yes," There was a moment of silence between us and I took a deep breath, and then asked another question, "Do you want me to keep going? Or do you not want to hear anymore, because we can stop whenever you want." She looked out the window again, and I wondered if it was possible for me to sneak her in a painting or a picture for her to stare at, since there mustn't be many things to look at out there, at least not many things that were interesting at least. There weren't any other buildings, or even plant life around this terrible hospital, just long slabs of concrete that seemed to go on for miles. Perhaps they were meant to be ground layers for other buildings that were meant to be built, but for some reason they were left abandoned, and all that was built was this dreadful and dull place, quite the credit for Humanity in its architecture, in a sarcastic way of speaking.

"I want to hear more, I do hate to stop a story and never hear the ending," I smiled and lifted my hand from the page, looking back down at the writing below, reading aloud the handwriting, written in very, very old and dried ink. The yellowed pages were slightly crinkled from both age and the apparent wetness of the ink in the past, so they made a small noise whenever I flipped the page, or failingly attempted to smooth it out in order to make it look neater. I think she appreciated the fact that the story was obviously old, as it made this story much more interesting to her, as she probably wanted to know how it could be so old. Then again if she did know the rest of the story right at this time… I don't think she would be any less puzzled about it.

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**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Well it seemed that the man that had busted into the lab was now joining them on their quest to apparently take over the world. Lorrie looked at the man in the review mirror as she continued to drive, wondering a strange though of whether or not she looked like that when she was caged in her mind as well, all fuzzed eyes and blank expressions. She had driven away quick enough from the radio telescope labs, putting the accelerator down into the ground as she didn't want to stay there a moment longer than she had to, the memory of that man screaming in horror before he apparently died still replaying in her head, along with screams she had thought were buried from her mind eight years ago. _

"_Pull over," Lorrie noticed then that she was swerving this way and that across the road, and was lucky enough that there were no other cars on the road apart from them so nothing had happened to them yet. She did as she was told; knowing that nothing good was ever going to come out of not doing what he said. As soon as she had pulled over onto the dirt next to the road, and made a huge mistake in turning around and looking back at him, as she got to be caged away in her mind all over again. The Master must have felt that she was being intentionally reckless, veering all over the road in an attempt to kill them all and 'save' the universe. It took only a few seconds after that for the car to take off from the dirt again, this time driving straight and narrow on the road, except now the driver was the man that was once sitting in the back, and Lorraine sitting next to the Master, looking just as fuzz eyed and blanked in the expression as the driver. _

"_Your attempts at self sacrifice and 'heroism' are not going to work. If you wish to live longer, you will do as I say and don't try that again." He knew that a part of her mind could hear him well enough, and was going to do exactly what she told from that point. The Master had turned her head to face him so she would listen, his fingers gripping under her chin and cheeks to make sure she was looking at him, and as soon as he was done he turned her away again, returning to the newly lit cigar in his hands. They drove on and on for what felt like forever in her closed off mind, since she couldn't tell how much time was passing, the clock on the dashboard of the car being out of her line of sight since she couldn't seem to be able to move her head._

_The ride made a stop back to the circus, and the scientist man was left there while the circus leader drove the rest of the way of wherever it was they were going. Lorrie wanted to ask after why they were leaving the man there, or where they were going, but all the same couldn't speak thanks to being caged away from her voice. And even if she could talk, she doubted that the Master would ever tell her what was going on since she had apparently made him angry. Even though it didn't really seem to look that way, what with his face being completely expressionless, complemented only by the veil of white cigar smoke that trailed upward to the car roof before billowing out the window next to him. It reminded her more of the smoke from evil dragons in fairy tales, awaiting a noble prince to fight, than the simple release smoke of a cigarette. Though then again, her interpretation of his stance and expression at that moment came mostly from the fact that she could only see him in the corner of her eye, and quickly looked forward again before he could notice her watching him. _

_His eyes frightened her somewhat, so usually whenever she had to look at him when he was speaking to her; she would try to look everywhere else on his person but those dark orbs looking down on her. It made her shiver inside at just the thought of those eyes watching her, judging her. If anything it was more another comparison of the evil dragon than anything when she thought about it. Though of course whenever she did, or was forced to look him in the eyes, the feeling it brought her would be so vastly different than that, that it confused her to no end. Instead of fear that she would feel from the eyes of a man that reminded her a little too much of an evil reptile, she felt oddly calm. Well actually, calm might not have been the correct term, more like completely emotionless altogether, which again confused her since she didn't know if that feeling of no emotions made her calm, or that it just seemed that way in the first place. _

_Not being able to feel, to be hurt or angered; happy or sad, even melancholy. Lorrie was calm at not having to think these certain thoughts, remember these constant feelings, or even process why she should feel fear when looking into the eyes of a beast-made-man that was clearly dangerous to be around. After all, she had felt far too much in eight years of loneliness, neglect, rejection and abuse that she endured in the crooked orphan system, than she would even care to admit. Not having to feel, even for a few moments, was probably the best feeling she ever endured in some time, even if she only realized that after the emotionless period of looking into his eyes was over. _

_How strange it was, that she feared him in such a way as to compare him to a dragon, but at the same time, he brought her such peace of mind._

* * *

Finally we had reached the first part of the story I had disliked, but still there were only many more parts to come, because of course. She had not said a word on what I had just read aloud, instead it seemed that she was more innocently occupied with once again staring out the same window. I wondered if I could ever reach such points of attention ad concentration in my own old age that I could also stare out the window and still find something interesting in the world outside that I had been looking at for many years. However, she eventually noticed that I had stopped, and looked to me without expression, though I could tell she was confused. I replied by coughing a little and returning to the ancient book in my hands, reading out the old writing as I went on, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it was making me feel.

* * *

_The car finally stopped at, strangely enough, a plastics factory. Lorrie took this as another opportunity to see the plastic orb-Nestene- which was currently in some kind of box that the Master was holding. She knew it was in there since she could hear the strange noises it made, like sirens going off but for some reason no one else had heard them. It was really hurting her ears by this point, but she couldn't cover them at that time, what with her actions being locked away with her speech. More than once she had wondered if this pinkish orb was really meant to 'overtake the earth', or if the Master was just an insane man with certain hypnotic powers. _

_Yet as much as she would like to keep this thought, as it was rational and made a lot more sense than the explanations she had been given today, it just didn't seem right to her. Lorrie wished she could just believe that the Master was just some loon going around and disrupting things with his crazy ramblings, but much like the Nestene orb, they felt to different, to alien to her to just be some crazy man and his glowing sound making ball that he claims will 'dominate the earth'. It was just too strange, therefore there had to be more behind it, something more that at least would hopefully have a logical outcome. _

_Hearing a knock on the window at her side of the car, Lorrie looked up to see the Master waiting for her to get out of the vehicle. She did so, and as soon as she had stepped out and closed the door behind her, the car took off again, quickly turning the corner and disappearing altogether. The Master then walked off a bit, gesturing for her to follow after him as they entered the factory, walking amongst the large machines as they continued to push out multiple mannequins and dolls down the production line. Lorrie tried to look away from the plastic figures, especially the mannequins' faces. _

_It had always been more than a little disturbing to her, the unmoving eyes of the plastic and glass that always seem to follow her no matter where she was in the room or what she did to cover those constantly watching eyes up. That disturbed sense of fear that Lorrie got from dolls mostly came from the fact that one of the orphanages nuns had a habit of placing dolls all over the room she had shared with other girls. And despite the fact that it was only actually a few days that she had spent in that room (since she had to be moved for reasons that she would rather not go into, for memories sake,) that disturbing sense of always being watched by those toys stuck with her ever since. _

_Of course Lorrie tried to not show how troubled she was by the dolls, since she was walking around with someone that quite frankly she had a feeling would exploit that troubled feeling to the best of his ability should she step out of line. Again, it was just that sense that she got about him, that alienation and blankness of feeling. But despite that blankness, he would influence troubling fear and such if it suited him. So she followed after him in complete silence, and trying not to be to open about how much she didn't want to look at the dolls and plastic figures. _

_They walked on through the factory until they climbed up the stairs to the offices that thankfully were vacant of the strange plastic figures downstairs. It made her feel at least a little bit better in the circumstances Lorrie was in, even though they were just waltzing into a place where she knew they really weren't authorized to be in, so there was a chance of the police being called and weird questions asked on why she was hanging around with a man that was much, much older than her, and why she was away from the orphanage, again. However the worry of the police being involved was strangely put to rest when the Master knocked on one of the office's doors and was welcomed in by was appeared to be the owner of the factory itself. _

"_Ah, Colonel Masters isn't it? Please do come in," He gestured for the Master to enter the office, thought stopped for a moment to look back at Lorrie. It only took one look at her strange cut up jeans and leather jacket wrapped tightly around her to tell that she obviously shouldn't be here, and Lorrie couldn't really argue with that logic as she knew she shouldn't, but before he could ask after her (or call the police), The Master interrupted him. His voice sounded oddly more charming and influential than it ever had before; In fact it was so strange that Lorrie almost found herself believing his lie as well, even though she knew well different for a fact. _

"_That is my niece Mr. Farrell, I brought her with me to learn about the ways of business, keep her out of trouble you see." After that, all attention was thankfully casted off of her as she sat in the chair the Master immediately directed to her, and stayed as quiet as she could manage. It felt so strange to suddenly find herself doing everything this man asked without hesitation, since her many years at the orphanage told her to sass off whenever she could manage it, and always go against the adult authoritarians. She felt like a tamed animal, humiliatingly doing everything she was asked like a good little child whilst the adults went off to have their discussions about other things. _

_But despite this, Lorrie found it best in the interest of her self-dignity and pride to blame her sudden obeying behavior with the fact that the Master had caged her away in her mind, meaning that every action wasn't really her own, so in that regard she wasn't truly tamed. It made her feel better; even though a smaller part inside her knew that it was sort of not true, but then again that was a smaller part that she tried to ignore like the adults were ignoring her right now. Sure, he made her feel calm whenever he locked her away in her mind, but all the same it was again her pride and self-dignity that was telling her that that calm feeling had nothing to do with her bowing down to every order given. _

_It was just the hypnotism, nothing more._

_The two men talked on for some time about the plastics business, and despite the fact that his lie said that she was supposed to be paying attention, she found herself on more than one time trying to not look at the floor. As she was trying to find images in the terrible colored and patterned carpet under her feet, so far she had found a creepy face, a dog and a cloud. It was at the third time Lorrie had stopped herself doing this that she heard familiar phrases coming from the Master, directed towards the Mr. Farrell from across the room. She looked up, and wasn't really all that surprised to see that he was actually hypnotizing him like he had done to her on more than one occasion._

"_You will obey me,"_

"_I shall obey."_

_And it was just like that, the factory was under the Master's control._

* * *

"Basically from charm and talent alone it seems," She says, still looking out the window. I nodded along even though I know she wasn't really looking, and continued on from where I had stopped.

* * *

_Eventually it seemed the time for talking was over, as Mr. Farrell led Lorrie and the Master to elsewhere in the factory, the teen being made to carry the box containing the Nestene as she walked behind them. The feeling of carrying the box as she could faintly hear the pulsing of the pink orb was a little off putting to say the least, but thanks to some more coercion from the Master (by that , meaning locking her away now deeper into her mind) she managed to get past that and carry it anyway. They walked for some time until they finally reached one of the plastic processing machines, where she was ordered to put the box down and attach some odd plastic white wires from the Nestene to the machine. _

_After that was done they continued to walk again for some time, the two men once again talking of business and computers, Lorrie once again zoned out from the discussion. Meaning that she just followed after them silently, dwelling on her own thoughts, which more on one occasion drifted to how she was exactly going to get herself out of this situation. So far it seemed quite impossible to run away, since she couldn't move via her own choice, meaning she was kind of stuck. Quickly thought up plans would go through her head like a shot, but each and every one was shot down to the fact that even if she did manage to get away now, where would she go? _

_She didn't even know what town she was in; let alone the street or address. The orphanage felt like an eternity away, and even then she didn't want to go there. Lorrie was stuck where she was with a man that more than likely was dangerous enough to kill people (that shrunken down scientist being an excellent example of that, despite the fact that she found his demise way to strange and out of normality to even consider as real in her mind just yet, that and she didn't want to dwell on that memory in particular,) that wanted to take over the world with a glowing pink ball. Yet for some reason the teen was finding this whole scenario hard to believe as totally fake in a logical sense. _

_So basically she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and there certainly wasn't any way out of it as far as she could tell._

_Suddenly her dwellings were interrupted by a crash behind her, which apparently had also disrupted the two men's discussion as all three of them turned back to see what the commotion was. Oddly enough it was an older (older than Lorrie anyway) blonde woman that had been hiding behind the plastic crates, and possibly watching them the whole time. She was dressed sort of like a hippy, but at the same time with a sense of business or refinement that seemed to suit her. Her expression was innocent enough, but then again it took only one look to the Master for Lorrie to tell that he was not buying one percent of it, and quickly took control of that woman's mind. _

_All to soon they were all back in the office, but now with a hypnotized woman in tow as they all sat down, bar the woman of course as she was made to stand in the middle of the room while being bombarded with questions on who she was and why she had been sneaking around the factory and watching them in particular. In the beginning Lorrie didn't find her presence all that important, as the teen already figured that she must have been some sort of hippy environmentalist, sneaking in to rally against the use of plastics and how it was ruining the environment. However, that theory went out the window as she slowly paid more attention to what was said. _

"_Who are you?"_

"_Josephine Grant, Scientific Advisers' assistant for UNIT."_

"_What is UNIT? What does it do?"_

"_United Nations Intelligence Task-force, its primary orders to protect Great Britain and the world from the threat of alien invasion."_

_Already this was starting to sound eerily familiar to the teen as the questions continued, something in her mind reaching back to the past at the mention of 'UNIT', something she remembered seeing, or hearing… Lorrie shook her head to bring her back to reality, though of course it was just as she did this, that the question immediately got more interesting, as more things that were said my Miss Grant started opening that door in her mind wider and wider. Thoughts and memories long since put away to the best of her ability were coming back, like a dam bursting. All it took was one more name to let everything out all at once, and Miss Grant seemed to have that name just in time._

"_Who is your Scientific Adviser at UNIT?"_

"_He's called the Doctor,"_

"_**Now, I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend Jamie, what's your name?"**_

_He was here, well somewhere, but The Doctor was close by. Lorrie wanted to jump out of seat and shout, to celebrate that there was now an escape that she could go to next she got the chance. The Doctor would help, she knew he would, and the soldiers would help her to. Maybe he knew already that she was here, maybe he was trying to help her escape? All these thoughts, all these hopes built themselves up inside her as she felt the scent of freedom once again not being that far away, she had a chance, she had a hope of safety again, away from this strange Master man that frightened her to some degree, but at the same time made the teen feel so eerily calm._

_But then, Lorrie's suddenly fragile hopes were smashed._

"_You will return to UNIT with a negative report. You found nothing suspicious, and everything was in order,"_

"_Yes, everything is in order,"_

"_When you leave this room you will have no memory of meeting me or this teenager, only Mr. Farrell, You will also follow the orders placed for you, without any further instruction from me. Relay the instructions,"_

"_Yes, I will open the bomb in the Doctor's lab,"_

_And like that, her hopes were gone again, leaving only a cold feeling in her stomach. How was The Doctor going to help her, if he didn't even know she was here? But then more questions arose, questions of if this even was the same Doctor that she was thinking about or even if she was going to be 'saved' should they be caught, (then there was also the fact that he was going to be blown sky high in anyway). After all, Lorrie must have looked pretty suspicious for following him this whole time and not fighting against the Master even once. If they were caught, (which even now she wasn't sure about, and that thought worried her to,) they might not believe her if she said she was hypnotized, they'd call her a liar, then lock her up with the Master, which meant only lesser means of escape. _

_It looked like Lorrie was back at the square one once again, except now with even less confidence that she could even get away to begin with. But still she tried to think on what to do, where to go should she be given the chance. Miss Grant left the factory eventually, leaving just the three of them in the office once more. Lorrie wondered if she might be able to run now, but just as she tried to test out the movement of her legs, she was interrupted by the Masters voice. And despite herself, she looked up to hear every word he said, her pride once again being humiliated as she had tried to look away, only to find that she could not._

"_I would like to go and look at the processing mechanics again Mr. Farrell, now if my niece would like to join me…" The look in his eyes definitely was not asking, but ordering her to get up and follow him out of the room. Despite her better self and the internal fight she was putting up to stop herself, Lorrie got out of the chair and followed him out of the office, through the factory and unfortunately back to the processing conveyers of machinery, which mean that once again she got to look at the dolls and mannequins all over again, whilst also trying to make it look like she wasn't all that bothered by the creepy glass like eyes always following her._

_Strangely enough however, the Master only pulled aside three of the presented mannequins (with her assistance of course) and was currently attaching very familiar white wires to their plastic heads. The beeping of the Nestene suddenly started out of nowhere, though Lorrie could not see the pink glowing ball anywhere in sight. It was at this moment that the Master again acted oddly as he called her over to look at the mannequins herself, (as she had been standing at the corner of the room the whole time, praying to be ignored). However when she did get over to the table and leaned over a little as asked, the mannequin suddenly sat up, his hand closing in on her throat, keeping her in place._

_Immediately Lorrie let out a chocked cry, which unfortunately was not loud enough to gain the attention of anyone outside of the room. Her hand grasped everywhere for anything, while the other hand gripped onto the wrist of the mannequin, struggling against its rather strong grip. Eventually her other hand tried to grasp for the Master, as if silently pleading with him to help. But of course he backed away and moved around the table so he was in her full vision. The teen let out another silent cry as she saw small black spots beginning to appear in her vision, but he seemed uninterested in her suffering, instead speaking to her as if they weren't in the current situation that was happening._

"_I take it you do know the Doctor in some regard my dear, since you're very bad at keeping your thoughts out of your expression. But if you think that you're going to run to him and stop me you are very mistaken." The Mannequin released her and she fell to the ground, the black spots in her vision thankfully fading away. It took her a moment to catch her breath once more and get on her feet, but it eventually happened. Lorrie looked back up at the Master, a greater deal of fear for the man that she hadn't had before being visible in her eyes as he smiled, much like a spider would to a fly._

"_Good, now you might remember to obey me,"_

"_You will obey me."_

_He wanted to be assured, and despite another internal fight that she put up, Lorrie answered, her voice shaky from the recent run in with the mannequin. _

"_I will… obey."_

* * *

"- And I think that's all we have for time," I said, placing the bookmark in the right place as I shut it cleanly, not failing to see the brief look of disappointment she had as she saw me close the book. I gave her the normal quick smile and assurance that I would be back the next day, at the same time as always to tell her what happened next, then eventually, after some more chatter about smaller things (like the food here or the wallpaper colors, just anything she could think of to get me to stay just a little bit longer) I managed to finally leave the room and again walk down the usual hallways of the hospital to my car.

Although the whole time that I walked, I got the sense that there was something watching me, waiting just outside of the corners of my eyes so that I could not see it. It unnerved me, but I tried to ignore it and continue on, instead thinking over anything else I could manage that wouldn't lead back to that creepy feeling in the back of my head. However, it wasn't just that feeling that was now taking up my concentration, as something else began to rise to my attention. In fact as I saw it I was a little surprised I hadn't before.

There were no other patients in the hospitable, at least, none that I could see in the hallways and out through the lobby. Not one patient I could see walking around the facility in the issued blue smock, not one. I walked a little faster after realizing this, just in case I was being foolish or something like that. However, the more I walked, the more pronounced this fact became to me. I thought (as I walked out into the lobby and saw the vacant rows of seats) of asking any of the Nurses or Doctors about it, but shook my head, thinking on how they would decide me as crazy and lock in here to, then I wouldn't be able to help her.

So with that thought in mind I shook the creepy feeling and reality out of my mind to the best of my ability, and walked out through the sliding doors and into the car park beyond, trying to walk as leisurely to my car as I could manage to fake, so as to not look suspicious or seem like a retreat. As I walked closer to the familiar vehicle of mine, I didn't fail to see a similar note, the same as last time, stuck to my windshield. But, instead of even reading it, I dealt with the nuisance by scrunching it up and throwing it away again. And not a second later I was in my car and driving calmly down the road to the best of my ability, since every part of me wanted to slam down on the accelerator and get as far away from the creepy hospitable and that creepy feeling it gave me as I could manage.

But I would be back tomorrow and the day after that onwards, because I was not ready to stop now. It would still have to be more than just a few notes and a creepy feeling to scare me off for good.

* * *

**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Not a moment after Lorrie had answered, Mr. Farrell suddenly appeared in the room, and one of the mannequins that Lorraine hadn't even noticed herself was in the corner, suddenly moved out to attack him. She tried to call out, but her voice was still tried out from the attack, fortunately though The Master did call out for the plastic creation to stop in its movements. The mannequin paused and after a moment moved back to the corner where it had been situated beforehand. Not a moment afterwards the Master sent Mr. Farrell a decently moderated glare that clearly asked what he was doing here before he said it himself._

"_-There is an associate of mine here, they're questioning your being here, and they want to see you." He stuttered, looking back occasionally to the mannequin that the Master had called an 'Auton', just in case it would come back to attack him again. This news, (combined with further information that the bomb that was delivered via Miss Grant had failed, though that did not seem as important) apparently did not sit well with the mysterious Master, who looked only more annoyed that something, or someone was getting in the way of his progress. With one gesture of his hand he had both Mr. Farrell and Lorrie following him out of the room and back to the office. The teen was still rubbing at her neck as they continued to walk, the reality of the situation she was really in was settling in after that, but still had yet to completely stick in her mind, she was sort of slow on the uptake in that regard. _

_They entered the office and true enough, there was a man waiting for them, who looked a little more than just miffed at the Master's appearance in the office. He slowly put down the phone that he had been using when the three of them had entered the room, and glared at each of them in turn, especially at the mysterious man and Lorrie herself. The new visitor crossed his arms and got ready to tell them off a good one for their appearance and something or other to do with the factory business, so again the teen tuned out as he went, and just as last time only paid attention when something to her interest, or involving her came up. _

"_-And what exactly is this teenager doing here? She has even less business in this affair than you possibly could have Colonel Masters!" He was pointing right at her, and for some reason (even though she knew he was technically right) Lorrie felt insulted at the gesture, and glared heatedly at him in silent reply. This was a point that the Master chose to once again speak up after the long tirade of business and etiquette that the new visitor, (who as it turned out was named Mr. McDermott) in his defense, and also giving her an order. And of course, just as much as she tried to fight it back and not obey, her body did the opposite._

"_That would be my niece; I brought her here to learn more of the plastics industries, to follow in my footsteps you see. Why don't you go and get one of the new products that were assembled today to show Mr. McDermott the good work we're doing?" She walked off as asked, cursing the Master with every insult she could think off the whole way as once again she felt humiliated into following his orders in front of others, like a well trained house pet. She walked back to the room that they had been in previously, her body leading her to a square of folded up black plastic. Deciding not to question it for the moment, Lorrie picked up the plastic (flinching a small bit at how clammy it felt under her hands) and brought it back up to the office were the three men had been waiting. _

"_-What right have you got to interfere? Do you know you've ruined a whole day's production?" It was while Mr. McDermott was loudly asking this of the Master that Lorrie reappeared in the room. Apparently it was good timing as the Master quickly took the folded square of plastic out of her hands and showed it to the arguing man, as if this piece of evidence was supposed to prove his entire point. However, in Lorrie's opinion anyway, all it really did was prove the point the McDermott was trying to make, what with it being such a displeasing color and had such a clammy feel to it, which is exactly what the annoyed man pointed out to the Master when he got the chance. _

"_This plastic has unique properties Mr. McDermott," The Master said in defense before continuing, "Allow me to demonstrate," He then proceeded to drop the folded plastic a bit aways form them on the ground, then after a moment, clicked his fingers. And sure enough Lorrie was amazed to see the folded plastic inflate itself into a chair before their very eyes. Sure, it was still the same displeasing color, and Lorrie had no doubt that it probably felt as clammy as before, but at least it was well functioning. Apparently this didn't mean much to Mr. McDermott, as he continued to argue, even whilst the Master asked him to try sitting on the product._

"_Sit down man," Apparently the Master had grown tired with this man's constant complaints as it looked as though he were now hypnotizing him into doing as he asked. So the man eventually sat down, then the strangest, bizarre and terrifying thing happened (and that was saying quite a bit, what with the things she had been seeing today). The Plastic chair began to move of its own choice, and it seemed as she saw Mr. McDermott twist around in the chair and somehow not being able to get up, that it had stuck him to the clammy plastic. Whilst Lorrie watched the even with a sort of horrified interest, Mr. Farrell went forward to stop it, but was of course stopped himself by the Master, who looked not the slightest bit ruffled by the whole situation occurring not that far away from him. _

"_I will not tolerate his insolence," Was all the Master said when stopping Mr. Farrell, and continued to watch as the circumstances for Mr. McDermott only got worse and worse. Lorrie watched as the plastic slowly forced the sitting man on his back, the top of the chair moving downward to smother his face, with him screaming all the while, even when the plastic tried to muffle his cries, before silencing them completely. The teen's eyes continued to not leave the body, even after the last breath had been stopped in its tracks. It was here that everything became so horrifyingly real. And it wasn't just Mr. McDermott's murder, but the scientist's as well, and the near death she almost had not that long ago with the Auton. This was real, the Nestene, the Master, everything. _

_Lorrie only noticed she had been screaming for some time when the Master roughly shook her into silence and back to reality. Whatever lid that had been closed on to stop her talking this whole while that they were in the factory finally broke off, and she started crying hysterically, even as the Master grabbed a hold of her shoulders and ordering her loudly to calm down and stop crying (which certainly was not helping her by the way). Her head felt so pained at that moment, like it was going to explode while the rest of her was being slightly still shaken by the Master. And despite all her tears that mostly clogged her eyesight, her pleads were still well translated into English._

"_Please let me go, I want to leave, I don't want to be here. I won't tell anybody what's going on I'll stay out of the way just please… please let me go."_

"_I'm afraid I can't do that my dear, you are coming with us and seeing it all to the end, whether you like it or not. Now if you don't calm yourself within the next few moments, I shall have to make you __sit down for a while__ so you can catch your breath," He put certain emphasis on the those few important words, the expression on his face letting Lorrie know right off the bat that he was not just saying it to scare her, he really meant every word, and almost instantaneously in reply, she stopped in her pleads, and tried to silence her tears, though the fear in her stomach that had been gained as soon reality had really hit her, had never stopped growing. _

"_Now then, this seemed a very clumsy operation; you can see now why these products have got to be changed?" The Master gestured to the black plastic, which Lorrie did everything to look away from, not being able to stand the sight she would see of Mr. McDermott. For some reason this same issue didn't seem to be a problem for Mr. Farrell, who looked down at the plastic trap with a sense of strange disinterest and disregard for the person he apparently knew that was now lying dead on the floor. In fact, his reaction towards the whole affair seemed nothing short of a surprise to Lorrie, who barely even knew the person but she still managed to be completely horrified by it. What the factory owner said next of course only drove this notion home._

"_I don't know, seems very effective to me," _

"_What yards of plastic to accomplish that which can be done by just a few inches?" Though then again the Master's reply only added more fear to the pit that was growing very, very deep in her stomach. Now all the teen wanted was to run away, to hide and cry more for the scene she had just witnessed, but her legs seemed to be made of concrete, keeping her in place to hear more horrid things that seemed to be in this Master's plan. Lorrie wanted to just phase out of the conversation again, like she had done before, but for some reason she found herself paying attention to something she wished she couldn't. _

"_The human body has a basic weakness, one which I shall exploit to assist in the destruction of humanity," Lorrie felt sick, frightened and strangely more tired than anything else. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep, perhaps wake to a better world in which this was all just some horrid dream. The Master seemed to notice her exhaustion, (oddly enough) and ordered her out of the room to go and lie down in one of the offices nearby, also instructing Mr. Farrell to show her one of these empty offices in which she could sleep. The two walked down the hallways and eventually to the room she was meant to sleep in. Only it was just as Lorrie thanked the man and stepped into the room that she had noticed he had yet to leave, though of course logic told her why in only a few seconds flat. _

"_I guess you're supposed to make sure I don't run off and tell the presses right?" There was no answer, not that she was expecting one as she politely (well as polite as she could manage anyway) shoved the objects off of the desk in the middle of the room, grabbed one of the couch pillows from one of the chairs and climbed up to sleep. It wasn't uncomfortable (she had certainly slept on worse) and even if it was it wasn't as if she was going to complain, since even the idea of going against the Master had rewarded her with almost strangulation to death. So she said nothing more for the day as she drifted off to sleep, though of course couldn't resist giving the annoying Mr. Farrell the finger whilst his back was to her (she needed to let that self indulgence out every once in a while, just maybe when the Master wasn't looking…)._

* * *

"Well, that was certainly quite a sad ending for Mr. McDermott, is it going to keep being this violent?" I bookmarked the page before giving her a pathetic sign of 'so-so' before opening the book again; looking back up at her in case there was anything else she wanted to say before I continued. This morning had been the strangest yet, as I had to move quickly through the hospitable halls just to not seem all that on to the fact that there weren't any other patients in the whole damned place. I had pretended to be lost, but even then was quickly caught and put back to the usual path to her room. She said nothing more, and I continued…

* * *

_When Lorrie woke next it was earlier into the day, and Mr. Farrell wasn't in the room anymore. Not thinking twice on a good opportunity, Lorrie immediately went to open one of the windows of the room, only to find that it was locked. Not deterred in any way, she walked back to the chair and grabbed moving to throw it against the glass. However, as she did so she suddenly felt something grab the back of her jacket, and turned to see one of the Autons, that had also apparently been waiting in the corner for her to wake up. She struggled against it before letting go of the chair and moving to punch the window with her own fist. Her own health at this point is damned of importance, she just wanted out of this terrible place. _

_Though of course yet again the Auton stopped her, and dragged her easily away from the window as it grabbed a hold of her arms and twisted them behind her back. Lorrie hissed from the pain but was otherwise silent as she was shoved down the hallways and back to Mr. Farrell's office. As she was dragged in she didn't; fail to notice the other Autons that were now placed by the door, meaning she couldn't do a quick runner when the plastic figure let her go either. The Master was of course waiting for her, and if anything looked amused at her being dragged into the room. _

"_You wouldn't be trying to escape would you?" One of the Autons moved forward, its hand making a move for her neck, immediately she shouted for him to stop, and for some reason, the Master relented to her request, gesturing for the Auton to stop in its actions. He looked back to her, amusement once again in his features as he moved forward, gesturing again for the Auton holding her to let her go. Lorrie rubbed at her arms, but did no other action as the Master continued to speak to her, his voice deliberate in being slow as if to further humiliate her in some way. _

"_Now it doesn't have to be this way you know, if you just do as you're told and nothing else, the Autons would not have to be so rough. If you apologize I might just let this slide," She wanted to spit in his face, but she liked living all the same so decided against it. Instead she took a deep breath, gave a decent heated glare to Mr. Farrell, as he was the only one in the room she could glare at and not be killed for it, and finally did as he asked, trying not grate on the words as much as she would have liked._

"_I'm sorry,"_

"_See now that wasn't so hard was it? Well then Mr. Farrell, you say you're father is going to try and put a pause on our plans?" And just like that she was ignored and shoved into one of the nearby chairs where supposedly she was meant to be all quiet and ineffective once more. The two men talked some more before attention was once again placed on her as The Master gestured for her to come closer to the desk. She did so and listened as he told her apparently what he wanted her to do. All the while she would look behind her to the other Autons in the room, just to keep an eye on them of course. Before he spoke however, for some reason Mr. Farrell was sent away from the room, leaving just her, the Master and the groups of Autons._

"_Well then my dear, if we have to take care of Mr. Farrell Sr, how do you suggest it should be done?" She glared, her answer to the Master's question coming quick and logical to her mind and lips._

"_I don't want to help you kill people," His response was to laugh at first, then the real stinging words came._

"_You already have if you want to be technical; after all you brought the folded plastic that served as Mr. McDermott's end into the office yourself didn't you?" Lorrie swallowed thickly at his words, knowingly deep down inside that he was right, whilst the outer core of her defended her actions, though now her defense was crumbling into stutters and half glances away from him and instead to the floor, where Mr. McDermott died. _

"_N-no that wasn't-"_

"_Of course not," Sarcasm was not his strongest point apparently, he continued, "Now, you can give me an idea, or I guess you can just go back to sleep," Lorrie immediately did not like where that suggestion was heading, and she knew well enough threat he'd keep to what he had said. Immediately she started to think, and think quickly as she had a feeling he had a very short patience span, especially with her. Thankfully she reached a conclusion rather fast and looked back up, speaking quickly as it seemed that she had thought of it just in time._

"_Dolls," Truly she wasn't even thinking, just saying whatever came to mind. Unfortunately the first thing that did come to mind was the memories of the glass like eyes of the dolls from her childhood orphanage, staring at her like cold corpses. For a moment after she had replied she feared she had spoken wrong and that it was to be the last mistake she'd ever make. As it turned out however, she had apparently said the right thing, as suddenly the Master seemed amused, but at the same time intrigued at what she had said, and started pacing to himself, muttering under his breath as she only manage to catch a few things that were uttered._

"_Less plastic measure… possibly quicker outcome… could work, yes…" _

_Inside Lorrie suddenly felt even more scared, but with that fear was now a dose of guilt and regret that she had even spoken up. She'd helped him now; she was a conspirator to his crimes, in her eyes anyway. The Master stopped pacing after a tie and turned to one of the Autons, giving it quick orders that Lorrie didn't care to hear, instead she looked out the window and to the world ahead, but of course all she could see was factory warehouses and smoke stacks blocking her view of the real world outside. Nothing but materials in the outside world that she now saw, and for some reason Lorrie found herself wishing that she could see forests of large pine trees instead of those smoke stacks, and maybe a lake in place of the terribly gray warehouses. She wanted to smell the fresh air, not the cage of smoke that had surrounded her the moment she had been stupid enough to go into that horsebox. _

_She wanted to feel free again, even though she had only been caged for more than a day. But it had felt like an eternity to her, an eternity that just might get her killed. The mysterious and dangerous man joined her in looking outside of the window again after a time, and once again she wished for something, though this one was not as poetic as the desire to see nature in its natural form. What she wanted was for the Master to cage her in her mind again, hypnotize her so she didn't have to feel the guilt, sadness, fear and shame that she was feeling at that moment for the part she had just played in an unknown man's death. She wanted to be calm, to not have to feel anything. _

_But she kept her mouth shut, not wanting the man to know how much she truly needed that cage in her mind; if he did she knew for a fact he'd find a way to take that from her as well, and that was something she wasn't sure she could deal with. At least the fact that she didn't really know the man she had a hand in killing limited her guilt somewhat, but the fact that she would have to live with that feeling for some time without the emotionless cage to be put in was unbearable to even think of. It was while she was thinking over these things that the Master finally spoke up, his voice breaking the only silence that Lorrie had found even slightly comfortable ever since this whole thing started._

"_I would not worry about your ending my dear, if you follow my orders and stay out of the way unless ordered otherwise, I'm sure the Nestene will reward you for your good behavior," So that was what he thought was plaguing her. But all the same, while that was something that stuck in her mind as something to definitely worry about, but the fact that she had aided in man's death, and the fact that she was currently under the thumb of someone who could hypnotize people into killing others with bombs and such. Now these were all things to worry and guilt over, probably a lot more than her life of course, but still, she kept her own safety in mind._

_This was also the time that she noticed something strange, as after the Master had spoken; she started hearing a strange beat. It was quiet, but all the same noticeable to her as she looked over, and saw him tapping his fingers in a beat. It wasn't totally strange, but all the same it seemed like the only normal thing she had ever seen him do in quite a while. After a few moments of almost silent tapping and looking out a very disinteresting window, the silence was once again broken. But this time it was more Mr. Farrell and his father bursting in with full serious conversation than anything else._

"_-And you are telling me that Mr. McDermott is dead? He can't be…"_

"_I'm afraid so father," _

"_Yes he just sat down in this chair and, slipped away." Lorrie looked over at him in shock that he would say such a thing, while he just looked back at Mr. Farrell Sr, but of course she couldn't miss the humored glint in his eye. It seemed so far that all this was nothing more than an amusement to him at times, what with him laughing at her expense when she felt guilt over the man's death, to even now, were he openly mocked the whole situation in front of an unknowing man that he was planning to kill. It was so strange, and so wrong in a way that she couldn't help but find intriguing, in a strange sort of sense anyway. She also felt as though she should speak up, to say something, but another quick look to him and his sudden dark expression to her made her keep silent once more._

"_Well, anyway, I suppose it's hardly decent in the circumstances, but I've driven a long way to talk to you Rex. About the way you seem determined to throw away the years of work I've put into this factory, now what is going on here?" The teen looked over at the now flustered Mr. Farrell, not surprised to see that his father's mere presence had stimulated some sort of cowardice in him, possibly left over from childhood. Lorrie knew this feeling well enough; she had felt it herself many a time when adopted into a particular type of family. The childish feeling of being so small, and the father of the house being so much bigger than you, it was even faltering Mr. Farrell's (or rather Rex's) once business like tones into stuttering half sentences that needed a moment's deliberation before continuing. _

"_We're changing our policy father, introducing new methods, new products-" And just as she suspected, Mr. Farrell was interrupted by his father, who only seemed to look more annoyed the more he heard his son's explanation, as if he were somewhat expecting it. The Master himself seemed a little annoyed by the whole affair, as if this were all done deliberately to take up his time and attention. This again intrigued her in a weird way. He wasn't even trying to pretend to care like most people would do if they actually weren't interested in the problem that was going on around him. He just wanted to finish it because it was hindering him in what he wanted to do, and he didn't mind showing it in his expression either. _

_He didn't joke or dance around the subject of something, if he said something and meant it then he really did mean it._

_It was sort of refreshing to see that, again in a strange intriguing kind of sense._

"_-You're doing nothing of the sort. You'll carry on with the lines I laid down, or I'll come out of retirement and do the job myself, I'm not past it you know."Finally it seemed that the Master's patience with the family reunion had worn thin and he spoke up, his voice evened and trying its very best to appear charming, though she knew well enough as he did that he did not want to hear one more word of debate when it came to what was going to happen in this factory. He put his hands down on the desk and looked the man right in the eyes, then, Lorrie saw the strangest occurrence (well, less horrifying that the occurrence with Mr. McDermott at least). _

"_You must trust me; there is nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about," _

_At first it seemed like the hypnosis on this man was going to bend to his will like many before him had done, but then something strange happened. As the words the Master was saying started to go slower, the man seemed more resisting to the actions, sometimes even managing to look away completely from the Master altogether before looking back. Until eventually, Mr. Farrell Sr interrupted the Master altogether, effectively shutting down the attempt of hypnosis overall. This time the teen didn't even need to see the hypnotists face to know that he was truly angry by this man's resistance, he even lifted a hand to strike him, and would have most definitely landed a blow had it not been for Mr. Farrell stopping him from attacking his father._

_Then, after a short second, the anger drifted to sudden humbleness. Again, it intrigued her well enough as he backed away from the desk, efficiently giving up his attempt to take over the man's mind. What was stranger still than the sudden modesty and backing off after his failure was that he actually commended the old factory owner for his stronger will. _

"_Congratulations Mr. Farrell, Usually I am able to overcome opposition, but your will is exceptionally strong. One might say, dangerously strong" _

_Lorrie watched this all as went on, though she could tell somehow that this was all a charade, and as soon as he exited the room he was going to be more than furious by the whole thing. And sure enough, after he had made the move to start to leave and gesture for her to follow him, he was exactly that emotional range before the door had even shut behind them. His eyes turned swiftly from fake humbleness with anger hidden underneath, to full anger in a few seconds. His pace as he walked down the hallways was hard for her to catch up to as they walked quickly through the factory and back to the room they had been in before. _

"_Is it ready yet?" He fumed to the closest Auton, which robotically nodded its head and brought out what Lorrie considered to be the ugliest doll she had ever seen before. It looked sort of like one of the dolls an adult might collect as a fancy or a toy that a small child might have if his parents didn't give a damn about their mental state. And as if the Master could smell the disturbed disgust coming off of Lorrie, he brought the horrid thing closer towards her, holding it out for her to take, though she couldn't bring herself to do it. _

"_Would this be what you were thinking off my dear?"_

_She wanted to admit that it wasn't, that she was actually thinking more closely to the porcelain dolls that were hung all over her shared room, all the glass eyes staring grudgingly at her. But if she said no, then the doll would be changed to that, and then she would be even closer to being connected to the Master's plan, a closer conspirator to that poor man's death. So she swallowed thickly, a lump seemingly appearing in her throat as time seemed to tick by, and away for Mr. Farrell Sr, and nodded in reply. This seemed to satisfy him as he went to leave, no doubt to give the dreaded troll doll to Mr. Farrell Sr. Something rose up in her at the last second, and she spoke up._

"_Wait!" he looked back at her, and she tried to remember what it was she wanted to say. Lorrie knew well enough that she couldn't convince the Master not to kill this man, she couldn't do much against him at all, so what could she say? She felt so helpless, so much smaller and weaker than Lorrie knew she should be. The Master seemed only amused once more by her interruption, and he waited patiently for what it was she would say, the ugly troll doll openly shown in his hands, as if a subtle reminder that no matter what she said, it was going to happen. _

"_Yes?" _

"_I-I didn't want this, I didn't want any of it to happen," He laughs again, amused by her desperate attempt to not feel so much guilt for what is going to come to pass._

"_My dear, no one ever said you did," _

_And then he was gone, troll doll in tow as he walked out of the room and into the factory beyond, no doubt to catch up to Mr. Farrell Sr and give him the accursed plastic object. Lorrie looked at the floor, her stomach having felt as though it had plummeted there only moments ago. Her guilt grew inside her like a virus, a disease spreading through her faster than ever. She'd helped a man to die; there was no escaping it now. The death of Mr. McDermott had been different from this, as she had not seen that coming, nor knew anything beforehand about the plastic lump that turned out to be his end. This time, she knew it was happening, she even played a hand in the decision of what the weapon was going to be. _

_Now she really couldn't run, because she was an accomplice. The police, if they ever found her (should she run) would find that out eventually, the police always do. Then she would be in jail, as said before, but now it was certain, at least that was what her guilt was telling her. The police find out everything, she was only surprised that they actually hadn't found them yet, but it was going to happen soon, it always did. Lorrie left the room, moving slowly to the office she had been sleeping previously, moving the chair cushion off the desk as she sat down in the chair in front of it, resting her head in her hands as she thought over what a miserable person she was, etc, etc._

_After a time of this she suddenly got the feeling that there was someone else in this room, and when she did look up, she was again confused and amazed to find a cup of tea placed in front of her, and the Master on the other side drinking from his own cup. Her look of confusion must have been more obvious than she had thought, since she had tried to hide it, as the strange man eventually answered the unasked question in the air. He placed the cup back down on the table and ate one of the provided biscuits first of course before bothering to speak up._

"_It's not poisoned you know, just a little gift for your assistance,"_

"_Why should I believe you, you've killed three people already and hasn't even been three days." But all the same she drew the cup closer to her, needing the warmth that was provided through the plastic of the cup, though of course after realizing it was plastic she moved her hands right away, the memory of the black plastic chair and the clammy feeling being all she needed. Her comment seemed to amuse him (it seemed that was all she ever did other than make him angry at times) and he decided the best way to prove his point was to reach over and take her cup, drinking a small sip from it himself before placing it back down to her, giving her a look that clearly stated 'and look I'm not dead'. _

"_How do I know you didn't take an antidote beforehand?" _

_Now that comment made him laugh, and despite how serious she was trying to be in this situation she did sort of smirk herself, though she covered it up as soon as she noticed. She looked back down and by impulse, drunk some of the tea from her cup. Again it took Lorrie a moment to notice this and when she did immediately she waited to feel a chill in her bones or something to that extent. Only to find that nothing had happened, and after a few more seconds of assuring herself that she wasn't dead nor dying, she meekly took another sip of the tea, once again much to the Master's amusement._

"_How's the tea?"_

"_I-it's fine… thank you." Her manners never seem to abandon her, even when she was having tea with what she was sure was a psychopath that not that long ago had nearly killed her, and most certainly killed three men. Lorrie kept telling herself this as she drank the tea and continued to converse with him, reminding herself of what he really was and had done. It seemed so easy to forget at times when he seemed so charming, so much unalike the psychos shown in horror movies and such. They continued to drink the tea and eat the biscuits in relative silence, sometimes breaking it to discuss the different topics that really had nothing to do with the current events that had been happening recently. And the teen knew she would be lying if she said it wasn't sort of enjoyable. Though of course more than once or twice she would sneak a peek to the small clock on the wall next to her as she continued to think thoughts she'd rather not have._

"_Something troubling you my dear?"_

_**Yes, **__she wanted to say, probably in a really loud voice to. __**Something is absolutely troubling me. Like for instance the fact that I was sort of 'kidnapped' by a frankly terrifying at the best of times hypnotist that has killed three men, two of whom I stupidly assisted him with and is now dealing with the horrid guilt that doesn't want to leave me in peace. And now I'm having actually kind of awesome tasting tea with him and having a general conversation that actually isn't that bad with the standards of people I generally converse with. So yes, something is really wrong here. **__But of course she didn't say that, manners and an overall sense of 'if I do that I might just die' feeling telling her that might not be a good idea, instead she decided to sum it up in a better way, though of course it still sounded not a lick better when she said it out loud. Things generally sounded better in her head anyway. _

"_Would Mr. Farrell Sr be dead by now?" _

_Normal people might have yelled at her for her bluntness, even though she actually had been trying to put it lightly, but for some reason that didn't happen with the Master (but then again, he isn't normal). In fact what he did was look at the clock, then for some reason the watch on his own wrist before looking back at her, a deliberating look coming over his features before he answered, which was again coupled with the few sips he took from his tea since apparently he liked to draw out the tension of the situation at hand, but then again he wasn't suspecting the level of patience that Lorrie was willing to put up with in order to get the answer she needed. _

"_Should be yes," There was a moment of silence before he spoke again, "Does that bother you?"_

"_More than yourself apparently," That sounded ruder than she had intended, and was quickly look up to the man to see if he was insulted. Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case, if anything he was nodding in agreement to her comment, accepting what she had said as the truth. He was being overall agreeable and basically likeable at this time, and Lorrie wondered if that was all an illusion just to get her to behave for him better. If that was so, than she was quicker on the case than he might have figured her able, and could use this somewhat to her advantage. Then again, she wasn't a spy or something like that, she was a teenage girl, and she had no place in mind games like the ones he was playing with her at the moment. There was another moment of silence before she asked another question._

"_I'm not going to live through this am I?" There was a moment of silence that lasted longer than she liked, even for the patience she was willing to put up, "Please tell me the truth," she added lamely after the silent moment, looking mostly at the empty cup of tea in her hands as she awaited the answer, Again normal people would tell her off, saying that she had ruined the perfectly good mood of the room, but then again it was hard to have a good mood to keep when that was all that was on your mind. He eventually answered through the thick quiet, his answer just as blunt and to the point as her question had been._

"_Well that really depends on a lot of things, like whether or not you follow my orders or just plain luck as humans call it," There it was again, him referring to humanity outside himself. The first time was when he was talking after Mr. McDermott's demise, 'humanity's only weakness,' is what she remembered him saying. But what did that mean? Did he think he was not human? Because that only added a lot more creepy and insanity to this man if that were the case. So she decided against asking him that question in the end, since the answer she felt she was going to get would only make her feel even less comfortable about the whole situation (because she was so okay with it in the first place). _

_There were many things that she didn't understand about this person, and she certainly didn't want to know._

* * *

**Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.**


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